Member Article

Newcastle to host unique German business delegation

A group of fourteen influential business leaders from Hamburg will visit Newcastle this week, Thursday 26 and Friday 27 March, in a bid to strengthen commercial links between the business communities of Newcastle, Hamburg and the rest of Europe.

NE1 Ltd, the Business Improvement District (BID) company for Newcastle City Centre, has organised the trip to extend the city’s business reach and to create opportunities for North East companies to do business in and around Europe.

The idea for the trip came after NE1’s links with other BIDs across Europe highlighted strong parallels, and important differences, between the experiences and challenges faced particularly by BIDs operating in Germany and the UK.

NE1 was keen to work with these companies both to exploit potential business opportunities and to establish what can be learnt from their European neighbours.

Forging long term contacts and commercial relationships with businesses internationally is one of NE1’s primary business goals as NE1 seeks to ensure that Newcastle secures its rightful place as a European regional capital city and a leading player in European business.

NE1 is hoping the Hamburg delegation will be the first of a series of similar foreign exchange trips.

Among the delegates will be property owners, retailers, developer, BID-Managers, representatives of the Hafencity University, Chamber of Commerce and the administration from Hamburg.

Newcastle’s business community will be represented by property owners, developers and retailers, with other UK attendees including Tim Knox, the Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, Dr Julie Grail, the Chief Executive of British BIDs and Mark Holder the DCLG official responsible for English BIDs.

A series of meetings will be held in Newcastle over the two-day visit, which will run from Thursday 26 to Friday 27 March.

Hamburg was the obvious choice for the first of NE1’s European delegations; it is Germany’s 2nd largest city by population and has 8 active BIDs and 5 in preparation.

In total 17 BIDs in Hamburg are responsible for generating investment of over 39 million Euros (approximately £30m) in the city. The synergy between this and NE1’s efforts to unlock over £20m in its first term were evident to NE1 when exploring potential European business targets.

The differences between the Hamburg and Newcastle BIDs include the fact that while NE1 operates as a single force responsible for the whole city centre, in Hamburg the BIDs focus very closely on individual, small, commercially important geographic areas such as a square or main retail street. Beyond this, the core revenues of German BIDs come from property owners, whereas they come from business operators in the UK.

Sean Bullick, Chief Executive of NE1 Ltd who will host the Hamburg delegation said: “We need to ensure that Newcastle exploits its strengths and extends its business reach beyond the shores of the British Isles.

“We will use the visit to forge links with other European businesses and learn from our mutual experience. We hope the trip will be the first of many.”

Commenting on the visit Dr. Sebastian Binger, Chief Executive of Otto Wulff BID-Company, which operates several BIDs in Hamburg, said: “This visit is a unique business opportunity created by NE1 Ltd and is welcomed by all the businesses represented by our delegation.

“As well as a meeting of minds we hope the trip will forge strong and practical business links between German and North East businesses that will deliver economically for both countries.”